Chester is back, thanks to swarming defense

CHESTER >> The idea of two players coming into a place like the Fred Pickett Jr. Memorial Gymnasium and constructing an upset is remote, yet plausible.

The notion of a player single-handedly beating Chester at home in the postseason is just about impossible, reserved for those players destined to have their name called by the NBA Commissioner on stage in New York one day (and even then, there’s no guarantee).

So when Chester scoped out No. 25 Hatboro-Horsham this week and diagrammed a gameplan against its two-headed scoring monster of guard Jay Davis and forward Clifton Moore, the plan seemed simple in principle.

In practice Tuesday night, its execution was devastating.

The Clippers limited Moore to less — the first two points of the game, then nothing — in a 56-34 pasting to return to the PIAA Tournament after a rare, one-year absence.

The No. 9 Clippers (18-6) will see the road to the District One Championship run through West 9th Street, thanks to No. 17 Central Bucks East’s upset over No. 1 Coatesville, 49-43. East and Chester meet Friday night in the quarterfinals.

Hatboro-Horsham (12-12) slips into playbacks where it travels to Coatesville.

That path was paved by Chester’s shutdown performance on Moore. The 6-foot-7 junior scored 28 points as the Hatters upset No. 8 Strath Haven, 68-46, in the first round. Tuesday, he hit the first shot of the game — then a whole lot of nothing.

Moore only attempted three shots in the final three quarters, none of them falling. He finished with those two lonesome points, seldom touching the ball in the face of the Clippers’ swarming defense.

“(The coaches) told us all week that he gets nothing,” Chester center Maurice Henry said. “Even if we have to sacrifice all our offense, he gets nothing.”

The plan worked to perfection. The second of the two major scorers, Davis, scored plenty, tallying a game-high 23 points. But with no other help in the offing, Chester was fine with that concession.

Chester’s difference was balance. As Henry said, the Chester post players didn’t do much scoring, though Jordan Camper returned from a 10-game absence with a hand injury to score four in the fourth quarter. But with options elsewhere on the court, the bigs could afford to focus on defense.

DeShawn Hinson led the way with 13 points, including two crucial first-quarter 3-pointers that led the Hatters to abandon the 2-3 zone. Khaleeq Campbell drove to the basket enough on an uncharacteristically cold shooting night to score 12 points. And Stanley Davis Jr. added 11, in

cluding a particularly big boost that allowed Campbell to rest more than usual.

“He gave us a great boost because if I’m not on the court, he’s there,” Campbell said of Davis Jr. “He’s like our energy scoring guy, so if one guy is not on, he’s right there to bring it for us.”

As is usually the case, Chester got those contributions up and down the board, from four second-quarter points from Ahrod Carter off the bench to quality post minutes from Jamal Jones on the defensive end.

“They don’t have the depth that we have,” said Henry, who blocked three shots. “We probably have the deepest team in all of PA. That’s what’s going to lead us to more wins. We’ve got more and more and more guys to keep throwing at him.”

The Hatters, meanwhile, didn’t get anything close to that. Joseph Russell scored two first-quarter buckets on smart pick-and-rolls, but he fouled out with three and a half minutes left after playing less than five minutes in the final three quarters combined.

Davis accounted for eight of Hatboro-Horsham’s 13 baskets. The rest of the Hatters, Moore included, shot a ghastly 17.9 percent (5-for-28). As a team, they were 1-for-14 from 3-point land.

And that’s when they got into the halfcourt, penetrating the duress inflicted by Chester’s pressure defense.

“We play defense with an attitude,” Davis Jr. said. “They didn’t want the ball; they gave it to us.”

Davis Jr. showed plenty of attitude on the offensive end, too. He scored eight points in the third quarter, including six straight before a Campbell deuce capped a 10-2 run that urged Hatboro coach Ed Enoch to call his fifth and final timeout at 2:48 of the third quarter.

As the Hatters tried to slow the game to a manageable pace early, Davis Jr. was the tempo change to accelerate matters, even if that came with a mistake here or there.

“We play fast, sometimes too fast, but if they slow down, we’re going to speed up,” he said. “That’s how we got the lead so fast.”

Chester’s 16th win in its last 17 outings returns the Clippers to what many see as its rightful place: Competing in the PIAA Tournament. They missed out on that opportunity last year for the first time since 1991-92. With this group, including a nine-strong senior contingent that endured last year’s ignominy, having been shown how little history can guarantee, returning to the stage on which Chester legends are authored is no mere formality.

“It shows that we work hard, hard work pays off,” Davis Jr. said. “Chester is back.”